Hostess Brands reopening plants

According to ABC News, the bankrupt assets of Hostess Brands Inc., the company responsible for Twinkies, Ho Ho’s, Sno Balls, and Ding Dongs, are being put back to work by a buyout firm.

In March, Apollo Global Management LLC and Metropoulos & Co. bought the 83-year-old company for $410 million, renaming it Hostess Brands LLC. It is planning to re-open four bakeries over the next two and a half months, in Columbus, Ga.; Emporia, Kan.; Schiller Park, Ill.; and Indianapolis, Ind. It is also contemplating a fifth in Los Angeles, Calif.

According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, C. Dean Metropoulos, the company’s Chief Executive, said that between now and September, he plans to inject $60 million in capital investments into the plants, and hopes to hire at least 1,500 workers. It is speculated that the workers won’t be unionized.

Late last year when Hostess announced it was closing its doors, the unionized workers were on strike due to the wage and benefits cuts on the table. The majority of the workers (15,000 of the 19,000) belonged to the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers, & Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM).